Template for marking the location of latch boreholes



June 13, 1950 D. CARROL J. L TEMPLATE FOR MARKING THE LOCATION OF LATCH BOREHOLES Filed Dec. 11, 1947 SYWQ/WM JOHN 0 0A RROLL la tented June 13 1950 TEMPLATE FOR MARKING THE LOCATION OF LATCH BOREHOLES John D. Carroll, Kensington, Conn., assignor to The Stanley Works, New Britain, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application December 11, 19 27, Serial No. 791,063

1 Claim.

The present invention relates generally to woodworking apparatus, and more particularly to a template constructed and arranged for marking the location of latch bore holes on the outer surface of doors of the type having a lip overlying the associated door jamb whereby the latch bore holes may be quickly and accurately formed and so that the latch may be installed correctly in a minimum of time and with little difiiculty from the outside of the door. The invention has particular utility in the installation of latches in cabinets such as the usual kitchen cabinets or the like.

The proper installation of latches requires an accurate spacing of the latch from the edge of the door jamb rather than from the edge of the door. Because of unavoidable variations in the construction and fabrication of cabinets and cabinet doors, the clearance between the edge of the door and the door jamb varies over a relatively wide range so that the latch cannot be located by reference to the edge of the door without causing inaccuracies in the positioning of the latch. Even very small inaccuracies in the positioning of the latch may seriously interfere with the proper functioning of the latch. When the door is provided with a lip overlying the front of the door jamb, it will be apparent that the clearance between the edge of the door and the door jamb is obscured by the lip and it is exceedingly difficult and time consuming to make an accurate measurement of the clearance, and in some cases the installer of the latch merely resorts to guess work in locating the latch and usually with disadvantageous results. Also, because this clearance is measured interiorly at the inner surface of the door, the final location marks for the latch generally are made on the inner surface of the door which necessitates the boring of the holes from the inside of the door which is not only awkward and time consuming but requires extreme care to avoid splintering at the front of the door.

Bearing the above noted conditions in mind, this invention has in view as an important object the provision of a template to accommodate the various shapes and forms of the cabinet doors and to overcome the conditions of inaccessability to permit the accurate marking of the latch bore holes on the outer surface of the door, whereby the holes may be bored from the outside in a simple and quick operation, and the proper operation of the latch will be assured.

A further object of the invention is to provide a template of the character described which is simple to use and foolproof in operation so that the average person skilled in the art may utilize the template with a minimum of instruction and care to obtain the desired accurate and quick marking of the latch bore holes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a template of the character described which can be made inexpensively and rapidly in automatic machinery from a minimum of inexpensive materials so that a template may be provided with latches when they are sold without appreciably adding to the initial cost of the latch and thereby insuring that in the final result the cost of the installed latch will be materially reduced in view of the time saved during installation.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an inexpensive and easily formed template which at the same time will be sufi'iciently rugged and strong for normal usage and packaging so that the accuracy of the template will remain unaffected under normal conditions.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the. features of construction, combination of ele-- ments and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereafter set; forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claim.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the template of the present invention shown in functioning position with respect to a door jamb and a cabinet door of the type having a lip overlyng the front of the door jamb, the door jamb and door being shown partially in cross section; and

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the template alone.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown in substantially full size a section of a door jamb A and a door 3 associated therewith, this door B having a lip Ill of generally rounded outer contour and having an inner surface 9 which overlies and extends along the front surface of the door jamb A. A slight clearance ll of average amount is shown between the edge 12 of the door B and the edge 13 of the door jamb A.

The template C of the present invention, as shown in the specific embodiment in the drawing, is formed from a strip of relatively thin metal and is generally bent in a U-shape to provide a cross piece I5 which is at least as long as the maximum thickness of the lip II] of the door B and to provide legs 16 and i? of unequal length extending parallel to each other and at right angles from the cross piece I5. The shorter leg [1 has a flange 20 at its free end which also is bent at right angles to the leg [1.

By reason of the spacing of the legs IB and H, it is possible to slip the template around the lip H! of a door B and then the door may be closed so that the flange 20 engages the edge 13 of the door jamb A. Because of the relative thinness of the metal strip from which the template C is formed, the flange 2B easily fits within the clearance ll between the edges l2 and I3 and the leg I! will extend between the edge 9 and the outer surface of the door jamb A without materiall affecting the closed position of the door. The leg I! is made sufficiently long so that the cross piece 15 will be positioned a reasonable distance from the edge l3 of the door jamb whereby the template will accommodate doors having lips of greatly varying width.

At the free end of the leg [6 there is provided a plurality of inwardly extending points 2| which are spaced from the flange 2!! the predetermined exact distance that the latch bore holes are to be I located from the edge l3 of the door jamb A. As a specific example, the embodiment of the template of the present invention shown in the drawing may be designed to place two markings on the outer surface of the door which are spaced -S of an inch from each other in a vertical distance and which are spaced l of an inch from the edge l3 of the door jamb A. As will be readily apparent, the template could be readily modified to provide any number of markings indifierent relationship at any desired distance from the edge of the door 'jamb.

The use of the inwardly extending points 2| for marking the outer surface of the door'is found to be desirable for facilitating the impression of a mark on the door after the template is positioned as shown in Fig. 1. The leg l6 of the template is somewhat resilient so that it is possible to merely press or rap the free end of the leg 16' against the outer surface of the door thereby simultaneously marking the location of the twobore holes with the points 2|.

The formation of the template is'a relatively simple operation and it will be apparentthat the same can be made in a simple stamping and bend- The device is simple A made of any desired lengths without adversely afiecting the functioning of the template and, therefore, it is possible to make the template so that it will accommodate doors having extending lips of greatly varying dimensions.

By utilizing the template of the present invention, thecarpenter installing the latch is no longer required to measure the clearance between the edge of the door and the door jamb and he can quickly and easily locate the latch bore holes on the outside surface of the door in an easy and rapid. manner and thereafter may bore the latch holes from the outside of the door. As a result, the "accuracy of the location of the latch is assured even with relatively unskilled work- 'ine'na'nd the speed with which the latch may be installed and the appearance of the completed installation is greatly improved.

As 'many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely differenteinbodiments of this inventioncould be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in-the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted-as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim as my invention:

'Aternplate 'for 'marking the location of latch bore holes 'on the 'outer surface of doors or" the type having a lip overlying the associated door ja'rnb' when the door is closedcomprising a thin strip of "metal ben't at right angles at two places intermediate its ends to form a generally U shaped member having -a cross piece atleast as 'wideas the maximum thickness of-thedoor lip "and'two parallel legs 'ofunequal length extend.-

ing from the-same side of said cross piece and adapted to be positioned with the shorter leg "alongthe inner surface-of thedoor lip and with the longer leg along theouter -su-rface or" the "doom-the free end of' sa-id shorter leg being bent -at a right angle thereto and extending away from the longer leg' to "form aflange for-engaging the edge of the'door jambwhen the door is closed, and the-free endofsaid longer leg being formed with points extending'in the same direction as said-flange and spaced predetermined-distance therefrom and operableto mark the-outer surface of the-door when saidlonger leg is pressed-inwardly.

Number Name Date 62849.9 Ifl'arris ,Ju1y 4, 1899 1,473,177 "Coyne Nov. 6, 1923 

